09 October 2007

Hey, I don't like my current blog template. However I'd like to know what do you think about it. Shall I change it immediately, or can I leave it, as I am too lazy to change it. Or do you ... ehmm ... like it?

08 October 2007

The Egyptian Blogger Amr Gharbeia, sent an Email on the Egyptian Bloggers Mailing List today asking us to participate in Global Voices Online, by translating some of the Egyptian Blog Posts written in Arabic during the last few days into English, in order to help the Egyptian Blogospher get more coverage there. So, I'll give it a try here and looking forward to hearing your feedback. I'll select some posts from the Egyptian Blogs I am subscribed to in Google Reader, and will write a brief about each post if needed and then translate parts of them.

One of the main events was on the 7th of October, when many newspapers, mainly independent ones, decided not to appear on that day in order to show their stand against the detention of the Egyptian Journalists who were detained for publishing news about the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak which came out not to be true. Many Egyptian Bloggers (may be hundreds of them) decided not to post anything on that day as well. Most of them put logos showing their solidarity with the Egyptian Journalists, while some Blogs such as Kareem El Beheiry of "Egyptian-Workers" decided to write a short paragraph about it.

"The Egyptian Workers Blog decided to be closed today in solidarity with the respected newspapers which are not going to appear on news-stands on Sunday, as Blogging is considered to be related to Journalism. We are also going to boycott the the National - Governmental - Newspapers because of their failure to publish what really matters the Egyptian citizens, and for not standing with those newspapers asking for freedom of speech, and for their continuous submission to the government. And we ask you to boycott them, and on top of those newspapers comes Al-Ahram and Al-Gumhureya", Egyptian Workers Blog.

You sure know that the Israelis have succeeded in converting the Egyptian victory in October war into a defeat using their non-stopping propaganda. And you know, many Arabs - We normally use the term Arabs to refer to the rest of the Arab Nations excluding Egypt, and some times we use it to refer to the Gulf Countries in specific - as well share the same view with the Israelis.

So it is our task as Egyptians to publish the truth and not to be bored from doing this even if nobody listens to us for hundred years. Because this is the least we can do for those great men who didn't hesitate to pay their own lives in order to liberate our land and re-gain our national dignity.Zeinobia, Waqaee Masreyah

And here comes one of my favourites, a blog post about El Ahly football team, grrrrr. Beit El Reyadah, wrote about El Ahly qualification to the African Champions League final match.

"Not only congratulations to El Ahly fans, but also congratulations to all the Egyptian, as El Ahly football team was qualified to the final match of the African Champions League, and it will meet the Tunisian team Etoile Sahel there. And El Ahly will win Inshalla and will become the first team to be qualified for the third time to the FIFA Club World Cup championship", Beit El Reyadah.

"I know that this post is going to piss many of you off, and it will piss me off as well. But I can't stop myself from thinking.
What is the problem with dividing Iraq into federal states? Why are people everywhere complaining about it? And the most important question, if the majority of Iraqis are with federalism and they are going to vote for it in a democratic voting, what is our problem then?", MaLcoLM X.

Finally, an Egyptian Shiite activist was detained by the policy for nothing but for being Shiite. So Rasha - like many other bloggers - decided to write about this in her blog.

Reciting "Al Fateha" (a chapter from Quraan) in the third and fourth "Rakaas" (parts) of their prayers or not. "Tasbeeh" (calling the name of God) in the third and fourth "Rakaas" of their prayers or not. Calling Imam Ali an Iman in the first "Rakaa" of their prayer or not. Calling the names of the twelve Imams after their prayers or not. Praying on a carpet or on El Turbah El Husaineyah. Adding the phrase "Hayy Ala Khair El Ammal" in the "Azan" (call for prayer), like Sunnis adding the phrase "Al Salah Khayron Men Al Nawm" in their "Azan". Reciting "Duaa" after ending their prayers instead of "Tasleem".

I don't know how was the police detective able to accuse Muhammed El Durainy of saying "Tasbeeh" in his prayers?
He asked him about his prayers and beliefs, and then accused him of "Disrespecting Religions"!

Each time, and in each new case, the regime proves its fascism against those who are different from them.Rasha, Ay Haga (Anything).

Jihad On You, it's yet another proof that social softwares can be totally pointless.

"Jihad on you! is a social website based on venting the frustrations we all feel on a daily basis by declaring a holy war against anything and everything that annoys us, no matter how petty or insignificant. Obviously the whole idea is a bit toungue-in-cheek", Jihad On You!

In this site you declare holy wars on stuff you hate in your life and people can see wars created by others, and use digg-style voting system in order to vote for the wars they like.

But wait a minute, why did they use the term "Jihad". Did the creators of this site choose an Islamic term in order to tease us? They even have a logo with a skull and bones in it like those used by pirates. Let's face it, those Scandinavians painters who drew Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), gained international fame by teasing us. And at the end of the day, people like me may find themselves forced to write about them in their blogs. May be others will arrange demonstrations and keep cursing them on TV and organize speeches to tell people the true meaning of Jihad. What a brilliant free marketing campaign for a silly web site!!?

"We’re not entirely sure how wise it is to borrow an Islamic religious term, and a somewhat twisted translation of its true meaning, in this post-9/11 world as your site’s title. It would strike us as a quick way to annoy a significant portion of the world’s population before you even get off the ground", Mashable.

"This is a great site, because the name is so random/offensive, that it will go viral in the blogosphere, bringing in tons of traffic. Kudos to the owner!", Mashable - Comment by Collin LaHay.

But don't you think that we are responsible for this!? We never tried to stop Bin Laden et al. from attacking civilians in the name of Jihad. We never tried to tell others that this is not Jihad, nor even Islam. We also continued to prove to everyone that we are as silly as children and all what they have to do is to tease us and will will start burning their countries' flags and demonstrate everywhere.

Finally, let me ask you, don't you have anything in your mind now that you want to declare a holy war on?! ;)

06 October 2007

"At 2:00pm on 6 October 1973, more than 220 Egyptian warplanes flew over the Suez Canal and attacked Israeli command centres in the Sinai. "Operation Badr", soon to be known as the October War, had been launched, and a new stage in Egyptian and Arab history was opened", Al-Ahram Weekly.

October War, also know as Yom Kippur War as it began in the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, was our only choice in order to liberate the land occupied by Israel earlier in the 1967 'Six Day' war. It was also our only choice to regain our national dignity which was lost 6 years earlier.